Managed Services Industry Average Sales and Marketing Conversion Rates

May 22, 2018

How many marketing leads are needed to close a managed services sale?

On a recent webinar with CharTec, they shared average marketing and sales conversion rates for the managed services industry. Summary – MSPs need a lot of leads to close even one sale!

At a 1% overall close rate, you will need to have 100+ leads at the top of your funnel that your marketing team is nurturing to help your sales team close one managed services deal.

The example CharTec used in the webinar is if you have a goal of closing 4 new leads, you will need at least 400 leads to start. Other average conversion rates CharTec shared for Managed Service Providers (MSPs) included:

• 10% Conversion rate of marketing leads sent to sales
• 50% Conversion rate of sales leads who will schedule 1st appointments
• 50% Conversion rate of 1st appointments leading into performing a discovery
• 80% Conversion rate of discoveries leading to a proposal request
• 50% Conversion rate of proposals presented turning into closing a new managed services sale

Calculating Conversion Rates for Your Marketing/Sales Funnel

As a reminder, these are industry average conversion rates for as-a-service offerings. This can and will be different depending on the company and other variables. To determine your conversion rates, you will need to work backwards. Think about the following:

• How many accounts did you add last year?___ closed
• How many proposals did you present last year? ____ proposals
• How many discoveries did you perform last year? ____ discoveries
• How many appointments did you attend last year? ____ appointments
• How many leads were worked by your sales team last year?____ leads
• How many leads did your marketing team generate and nurture? ____ leads

Simply take the top number, divide it by the bullet point below it, and multiple the number by 100 to get your conversion rate for each stage of your sales and marketing funnel. For example, (4 new accounts won / 8 proposals presented) x 100 = 50% conversion rate from proposal to close a managed services deal. Meaning, you can expect to close 50% of the managed services proposals you present.

How to Fill Your Managed Services Funnel Starting at the Top

So how do you get a healthy amount of leads and build your marketing leads list so you’re able to reach your goals? A few lead gen examples provided on the CharTec webinar included:

• Social Media: Connect with leads on LinkedIn based on your target profile and find something personal to get their attention.
• Tradeshows/Local Events: Take time to network with others in person, collect business cards and get your name out there by word of mouth.
• Blogging: Write relevant content online (CharTec recommends trying to blog at least twice a week).

(Listen to our recorded webinar with CharTec that goes through different marketing lead gen tactics to increase your managed services sales.)

Increasing Your Marketing and Sales Conversion Rates for Managed Services

CharTec reminded us that it typically takes on average 5-7 touches to engage a lead. Of the 400 leads needed to close 4 new deals, you will need different marketing tactics to nurture them and convert 10% of them to take a first interaction and connect them with your sales team. The further a lead gets down the funnel, the higher the conversion rate should be to potentially closing them as a new customer.

Once you have the leads passed on to the sales team, are you able to confidently close them? Learn how to increase your managed services close rate with our Sales Simplicity Seminars!

Sales Simplicity Seminar Information

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